News about News about en-us]]> You’ve probably read the WIRED story “Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway—With Me in It” by now. Either way, it was scary as hell. Today, the company behind Jeep has finally taken action and announced that it’s “recalling” 1.4M vehicles because of what happened with WIRED’s Andy Greenberg. It’s not your typical recall… Read More

No young person should have to face the future without hope and optimism. Young people should be excited to learn, to grow, to succeed and to contribute to their communities. But in many disadvantaged neighborhoods and for many young people of color, opportunity gaps strangle hope.

That doesn’t have to be the case — we can do something about it. I believe government has no greater obligation than to help expand opportunity with smart, strategic investments. That’s why, in the last few weeks, the Department of Labor has awarded nearly $22.5 million to seven communities to help connect youth and young adults (ages 16 to 29) with job opportunities.

]]>]]>]]>]]>Today, in long-struggling pockets of major cities and small suburban towns cut off from regional economic engines, in the Low Country of South Carolina and on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the Administration is announcing eight new Promise Zone partnerships to fuel the revitalization of high-poverty communities.

In these Promise Zones, we will support locally developed plans that leverage private-sector investment to create jobs, increase economic activity, improve educational opportunity, and reduce violent crime.

If you're on Twitter, delving into a few longreads on Medium, or writing a blog on Google's Blogger, you're familiar with the work of Jason Goldman. Working as a behind-the-scenes "Wizard of Oz," Jason helped build these social media platforms into revolutionary spaces for engaging with the world on what matters to you most. Now, at 38, he’s moved across the country to helm a new role at the White House: Chief Digital Officer.

What does a CDO do for the President and the American people? Why did the President want to create this role? What advice did Sean "Puff Daddy / P. Diddy" Combs offer Jason? Find out below!

The creative energy of youth, the serenity of nature, and the lessons of history are a winning combination for me. All three were present in this video from the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, where I enjoyed an opportunity to roll up my sleeves alongside volunteers, young and old, to help plant rose bushes named for Coretta Scott King in the peace garden.

This visit helped launch our 50 Cities Initiative — an ambitious effort by the Department of the Interior's bureaus to work alongside cities, public land managers, and non-profit organizations like the YMCA, the National League of Cities, and local youth conservation corps, to engage young people in nature from city parks to national parks and all points in between.

]]>]]>It’s almost that time… when the White House transforms for a day into a hands-on showcase of robots, inventions, and innovative science projects – all built, made, and designed by kids.

That’s right, this Monday, March 23, President Obama will host the fifth-ever White House Science Fair, welcoming more than 100 students from across the country to share their projects and celebrate their extraordinary science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) achievements at the White House.

This year’s exhibit lineup includes a diverse array of projects, from patented inventions being brought to market, to innovative apps coded from the ground up, to award-winning rockets and robots, to pollution-powered batteries, 3D-printed wheelchair parts, and plans to protect honeybees.

Find out more below about the students participating in this year’s Science Fair:

And share stories and photos of YOUR inventions, discoveries, and science projects on social media using #WHScienceFair.

Trisha Prabhu, 14 (Naperville, Illinois)

Illinois teen Trisha Prabhu learned about research showing that the human brain’s decision-making region is not fully developed until age 25 and got inspired to help teens rethink how they treat others. She developed a computer program called “Rethink” that alerts users when an outgoing message contains language that is potentially abusive and hurtful. Preliminary analysis showed that adolescents who use the “Rethink” system are 93% less likely to send abusive messages than those who are not warned about the consequences of their actions prior to sending a message. Trisha earned a spot in the 2014 Google Science Fair to showcase her innovative project.

Harry Paul, 17 (Port Washington, NY )

17-year-old Harry Paul was born with congenital scoliosis, a curvature of the spine that, in growing kids, can impede the development of vital organs. Growing up, Harry endured more than a dozen spinal surgeries to help correct the problem. Now, he’s working to help other young people with scoliosis avoid the burdensome operations that can get in the way of living life. He designed a new type of spinal implant that expands over time, helping developing spines stay straighter as they grow, and lengthening the time young patients can go between surgeries. Harry’s implant could potentially help lower the number of risky procedures needed from over a dozen to less than five over the course of a child’s surgical treatment. His design earned him a place as a semifinalist at the 2014 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

]]>Yesterday, speaking to nearly 2,000 local leaders at the National League of Cities annual meeting, President Obama announced his TechHire initiative, a new campaign to work with communities to get more Americans rapidly trained for well-paying technology jobs.

The United States has about 5 million open jobs today, more than at any point since 2001. Over half a million of those job openings are in information technology (IT) fields like software development, network administration, user-interface design and cybersecurity – many of which did not even exist just a decade ago. The average salary in a job that requires IT skills – whether in manufacturing, advertising, retail, or banking – is 50 percent higher than the average private-sector American job.

In his remarks, the President emphasized that these open jobs are an economic development issue. When those jobs go unfilled, it’s a loss for American workers, for employers eager to hire, for our regional economies and for American competitiveness. Helping U.S. companies fill these critical jobs and empowering more Americans to train for and get these jobs is a key element of the President’s middle-class economics agenda.

TechHire is a multi-sector effort and call to action for local communities to collaborate in helping employers fill critical local IT job gaps by empowering a diverse array of Americans to rapidly gain the necessary technology skills, including using nontraditional training options like “coding bootcamps” and high-quality online courses.

]]>Yesterday, speaking to nearly 2,000 local leaders at the National League of Cities annual meeting, President Obama announced his TechHire initiative, a new campaign to work with communities to get more Americans rapidly trained for well-paying technology jobs.

The United States has about 5 million open jobs today, more than at any point since 2001. Over half a million of those job openings are in information technology (IT) fields like software development, network administration, user-interface design and cybersecurity – many of which did not even exist just a decade ago. The average salary in a job that requires IT skills – whether in manufacturing, advertising, retail, or banking – is 50 percent higher than the average private-sector American job.

In his remarks, the President emphasized that these open jobs are an economic development issue. When those jobs go unfilled, it’s a loss for American workers, for employers eager to hire, for our regional economies and for American competitiveness. Helping U.S. companies fill these critical jobs and empowering more Americans to train for and get these jobs is a key element of the President’s middle-class economics agenda.

TechHire is a multi-sector effort and call to action for local communities to collaborate in helping employers fill critical local IT job gaps by empowering a diverse array of Americans to rapidly gain the necessary technology skills, including using nontraditional training options like “coding bootcamps” and high-quality online courses.

]]>]]>]]>]]>]]>]]>]]>]]>]]>]]>]]>]]>]]>]]>]]>Yesterday, the President announced that he will take a number of steps to strengthen community policing and fortify the trust that must exist between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve. As part of this, he proposed a new three-year, $263 million Community Policing Initiative investment package that will increase use of body worn cameras (BWCs) by law enforcement, expand training for law enforcement agencies (LEAs), add more resources for police department reform, and multiply the number of cities where the Department of Justice (DOJ) facilitates community and local LEA engagement.

The new initiative expands programs within the President’s FY 2015 Budget, and builds on them by adding more resources to help integrate the federal government with state and local LEAs to build and sustain trust between communities and those who serve and protect these communities.

Tonight, speaking from the White House Briefing Room, President Obama spoke to the American people about the announcement of the grand jury's decision in the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The President joined Michael Brown’s parents in calling on anyone who protests to do so peacefully.

In his remarks, the President offered a path forward for our country, noting that the situation in Ferguson speaks to broader challenges we still face as a nation including the mistrust between law enforcement and communities of color. The President asked the nation to heed a grieving father’s words tonight and called on the country to seize this moment tomorrow as an opportunity for change.